Earth Equity News

Biofuels: 'Another Inconvenient Truth'. By Pete Harrison, Reuters, June 25, 2008. "Biofuels are responsible for 30 percent of the increase in global food prices, pushing 30 million people worldwide into poverty, aid agency Oxfam said in a report [Another Inconvenient Truth, PDF, 58 pp] on Wednesday. The use of biofuels is soaring as developed countries try to reduce their dependence on imported oil and cut emissions of carbon dioxide, but critics say they have led to a shortage of grain, pushing up commodity prices. 'Rich countries' demands for more biofuels in their transport fuels are causing spiraling production and food inflation,' said Oxfam biofuel policy adviser Rob Bailey, who wrote the report. 'Grain reserves are now at an all-time low.' Oxfam called on rich countries to dismantle subsidies for biofuels and reduce import tariffs... 'Biofuels are taking over agricultural land and forcing farming to expand into lands that are important carbon sinks, like forests and wetlands,' the report said. 'This triggers the release of carbon from soil and vegetation that will take decades to repay.'"